May 10-16 2021 is Mental Health Awareness Week. Spending time in nature has been shown to have huge benefits for our mental health, reducing stress and anxiety as well as improving physical wellbeing. While being out in the wilds of the countryside, up high on a mountain or down by the sea provide us with wonderful experiences of the natural world, don’t despair if you … Continue reading Solace In Nature
Sunday 2 May 2021 is International Dawn Chorus Day. To celebrate, we went out early one morning in late April to Coldham’s Common in Cambridge with ornithologist Dr Rob Pople to record the birds singing as the sun was rising. Here you can watch highlights of our dawn chorus walk, and listen to the main species singing with tips on how to recognise them. Why … Continue reading Dawn Chorus Day 2021
Museum Research Assistant Matt Hayes writes: With many of us currently having to work from home, spending our days sitting and staring at screens, it is important to take breaks, get up and look to the outside world when we can. Since lockdown, the kitchen table has become my new office and I am very lucky to have a small garden, which the kitchen backs … Continue reading Five minutes in nature: Tea break window watching
Museum Volunteer Anne French writes: Cherry Hinton Hall park, a short walk from where I live, is blessed with a chalk stream that used to power a water mill. The chalk stream supports many forms of wildlife such as kingfishers, water voles, sticklebacks, chubb and perch. But recently, I have found myself heading down there to see some birds I thought were terns but it … Continue reading Five minutes in nature: Black-headed gulls at Cherry Hinton Hall
Join us as we explore five species with Museum staff and Department of Zoology researchers, then have a go at a different art activity inspired by the featured animals. These videos and resources have been created in partnership with Dementia Compass, for adults with dementia and their care partners in mind. While they were initially created for participants of our Portals to the World course, … Continue reading Portals to the World: resources for adults with dementia and their care partners
With the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch taking place from the 29-31 January, we have chosen to celebrate our fine feathered friends with a special Nature Classroom all about British birds. We will be uncovering what it is to be a bird, unfurling an amazing world of feathers, and creating a key together for common garden birds. Get your eye in by trying some of our … Continue reading Our Feathered Friends
Throughout this week we have been sharing some amazing winter wildlife with you, and today we have joined this all up as our 12 Days of Critters. Why not download the song sheet and sing along with your new festive favourite: Find out about the 12 critters, and scroll down to learn how to make your own origami starling murmuration to decorate your home. Winter … Continue reading 12 Days of Winter Wildlife: 12 Days of Critters
Go to the river over the winter months and you will see swans, ducks, geese and more. For day nine of our 12 days of winter wildlife, we are celebrating all things water and waterfowl. Winter Wildlife: Water Birds Academic in the Department of Zoology, and one of our visitor engagement volunteers in the Museum, Dr Tony Fulford writes: Bodies of fresh water such as … Continue reading 12 Days of Winter Wildlife: Winter Water
You may think it gets pretty chilly here in the UK over winter, but for some animals it is a refuge from the more extreme cold further north. For day seven of our 12 days of winter wildlife, we will be exploring these winter visitors. Go on a virtual tour of the Museum’s British Bird displays and see some of the species that visit our … Continue reading 12 Days of Winter Wildlife: Winter Visitors
For day two of our 12 Days of Winter Wildlife, we are celebrating our feathered friends. Winter can be tough for birds. As the temperature drops, they need more energy to keep warm. But once the bounty of berries and seeds of the autumn is over, food can be in short supply. Provide birds with food in your garden or outdoor space and you can … Continue reading 12 Days of Winter Wildlife: Garden Birds
Take a look out of your window – what wildlife can you see? Over the next 12 days we will be exploring local wildlife over the colder months, giving you some tops tips on how to support it, and also celebrating winter wildlife with sustainable crafts and more. Catch up with our live launch of the 12 Days of Winter Wildlife that took place on … Continue reading 12 Days of Winter Wildlife
Alec Christie, PhD student in the Conservation Evidence group of the Department of Zoology writes: Go to your doctor and they’ll give you the best treatment based on the scientific evidence. So why can’t we do the same for biodiversity? Recently we’ve seen a flurry of important work highlighting the continuing decline of biodiversity, including David Attenborough’s documentary Extinction: the facts. It’s also very encouraging … Continue reading We know conservation is working, but do we really know what works?
Join us as we count animals in the Museum of Zoology. From the one and only Fin Whale, a whopping 21m long, to shells, birds, beetles and more. With fun animal facts along the way. Continue reading Puggle Club Counts to 10
This year we are taking our Winter Wildlife event online. Join us for the live launch on our YouTube channel at 4.30pm on Tuesday 1 December or catch up here: Get your questions ready for a LIVE Q&A with Rob Jaques from the British Trust for Ornithology, who’ll be talking about birds and other winter wildlife, and ways you can get involved collecting important data … Continue reading Coming Soon: 12 Days of Winter Wildlife
We have made it to the end of our Animal Alphabet as this week we explore the animals that begin with the letters X, Y and Z: There are some pretty unusual animals this week. X is for Xenarthra and Xenopus. Y is for Yellowhammer and Yeti Crab. Z is for Zebra, Zorilla and, of course, Zoology. Can you think of any other animals beginning … Continue reading Animal Alphabet: X, Y and Z
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